To correct Lincoln somewhat, he should have said, \x34. . . that government of the people, by the politicians, and for the politicians shall not perish from the earth.

Government's view of the economy: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. — Ronald Reagan

In the United States, the majority undertakes to supply a multitude of ready-made opinions for the use of individuals, who are thus relieved from the necessity of forming opinions of their own. -- Alexis de Toqueville

I have a dim memory, when I was a little kid, of taking a couple of straw dolls, which I believe belonged to my sisters, and my mom’s knitting needles, and playing with them. With imagination, the little men could be fighting each other with spears, and they could toss them at each other, and the needles would stick. I think I tired of that rather quickly, but I did do it. I know, it was sick.

Straw men are easy to defeat, since they don’t move. The President uses some in every speech, attacks them, defeats them with well-directed words, and pats himself on the back. Endlessly. Those straw men are resisting his brilliant economic ideas. They’re stopping his investments in the future. They’re investigating all the “phony” scandals – his words – that are plaguing his administration and taking our attention from what is really important. The straw men are keeping Obamacare from working.

The first set of straw men are the Republicans in the House. Obama blames them for everything, ignoring the fact that he is in the fifth year of his presidency – and hasn’t provided any leadership, or any sign of finding common ground with Republicans. He ignores the fact that the House can’t pass any legislation by itself, it can only block legislation from the Senate. He ignores the fact that the Senate almost never takes up and votes on a bill passed by the House. The Senate is the real impediment to progress.

The Democrats and Obama formulate legislation without ever working with conservatives, who dominate the House. There’s no leadership from Obama – never an attempt to understand the other side of an issue. This keeps the two parties polarized, and nothing ever gets done.

The second set of straw men I mentioned are corporate executives. A good exec is worth his or her weight in gold, because he or she can make or break their corporation by selecting the right, or the wrong, course of action. When they make the right choices, they can carry their companies to success. Top execs, like top athletes, can demand big salaries. But there’s something evil in that, according to Barry.

Of course, another set of straw men are the rich – the top 5 per cent -- they have all that money, and only pay 86% of the taxes. Obama tells his constituency, the majority of whom don’t pay any income taxes at all, that the rich aren’t paying their fair share. No, they are fiendishly making big salaries while the common person isn’t. After all, the common person is on food stamps or faking disability to get a pension for not working. But the straw men are holding the common person down.

Obama goes elsewhere – he’s always flying around, making speeches for no good reason – and attacks Washington, another straw man. Washington isn’t doing Its job. But Washington is another word for the Federal Government, and Obama isthe Federal Government. If Washington isn’t doing its job, Obama isn’t doing his. He constantly poses as the champion of fixing problems, all of which – he himself caused.

Obama is the champion of straw men. It’s easier than really addressing the problems, and easier than working with his political opponents, which is the only way anything will ever get done